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PREPAREDNESS FOR NATIONALJEFENSE 



AN ADDRESS 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 

NATIONAL CIVIC FEDERATION ON JANUARY 18. 1916, AT 

WASHINGTON. D. C, TOGETHER WITH A LETTER 

WRITTEN ON THE SAME SUBJECT TO THE 

NATIONAL SECURITY LEAGUE 

DATED JANUARY 19. 1916 

BY 

SAMUEL GOMPERS 

PRESIDENT OF AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR 




PRESENTED BY MR. CHAMBERLAIN 
February 7. 1916.— Ordered to be printed 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1916 






D. of D. 
FEB 21 1916 



PllEPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 



By Samuel Gompers, 
President American Federation of Labor. 



For 17 months war such as has never been known in the history of 
man has been devouring life and consuming the handiwork of men. 
Such a stupendous horror has compelled men to think deeply of the 
principles underlying our institutions and the spirit that makes for 
human progress and liberty. 

Before the outbreak of the present war many believed that a great 
war involving many nations was no longer possible ; that men had de- 
veloped ideals of justice and of humanity that would prevent the pos- 
sibility of their taking the lives of fellow men, even in the name of 
legitimate warfare. They hoped much — their ideals were untested. 

With the declaration of war the men of each country rushed to their 
flags. Soon there were mobilized thousands of men fighting for con- 
flicting ideals. When it was necessary to decide whether they pro- 
posed to stand by and see another nation invade their fatherland, 
trample upon their national ideals, ruthlessly disregard solemn 
pledges given in treaties, they found that there were some things of 
higher value than peace. Thej found that there are dangers of peace 
more far-reaching than the dangers of war. They realized that it is 
better to fight and die for a cause than to maintain peace and their 
physical safety at the sacrifice of their manhood and of the ideals that 
ennoble life. 

And yet it is not an unbeautiful theory that has been dissipated by 
the shot and the smoke of the European war. There were many 
who held that an organized society Avas possible upon a basis of 
the brotherhood of man, in which all had regard for the rights of 
others and would subordinate their selfish interests to the welfare of 
others. This ideal made paramount the sanctity of human life and 
regarded war as a relic of barbarism possible only because institutions 
of justice had not been sufficiently developed. Wage earners gener- 
ally of all civilized countries proclaimed and indorsed this ideal and 
declared that they would use every means within their power to 
prcA'ent war even to the extent of stopping all of the industries of 
the nations through a general strike. There were many extreme 
pacifists who could find no justification for war or the use of force 
in international affairs. 

And I, too, found this ideal attractive. In a speech made in April, 
1899, in Tremont Temple, Boston, I said : 

The organized wageworker learns from his craft association the value of 
humunity and of the brotherhood of man, hence it is not strange that we 
should believe in peace, not only nationally, but internationally. 

3 



4 PKEPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 

It is often our custom to send organizers from one country to anotlier for 
tlie purpose of sliowing to our fellows in other countries tlie value of our associa- 
tion in tlie labor movement. If international peace can not be secured by tlie 
intelligence of tliose in authority, then I look forward to the time when tlie 
worlvers will settle this question — by the dock laborers refusing to handle goods 
that are to be used to destroy tlieir fellow men, and by the seamen of the world, 
united in one organization, while willing to risk tfieir lives in conducting the 
commerce of nations, absolutely refusing to strike down their fellow men. 

My belief that war was no longer possible was based upon what 
I desired rather than upon realities because I felt so keenly the 
brutality, the destruction, and the waste of war. It seemed to me 
that war and conditions of war cut through the veneer of civiliza- 
tion and disclosed the brute in man. The consequence and the pur- 
pose of war accustom man to treat human life lightly. They make 
men callous to human suffering and they idealize force. No one can 
hear of the atrocities, of the terrible carnage of the present war, of 
the destruction on the battlefields and on the high seas without a 
feeling of horror that civilized men can plan such methods, can use 
the skill of their minds and bodies and the wisdom of past genera- 
tions to such terrible purpose. But what if these horrors done to 
the bodies of men shall prevent greater horrors to the minds — the 
souls of men ? 

The pacifists and those who hold to policies of nonresistance have 
failed as I had failed to understand and to evaluate that quality in 
the human race which makes men willing to risk their all for an ideal. 
Men Avorthy of the name will fight even for a " scrap of paper " when 
that paper represents ideals of human justice and freedom. The 
man Avho would not fight foi- such a scrap of paper is a poor craven 
who dares not assert his rights against the opposition and the de- 
mands of others. There is little progress made in the affairs of the 
world in which resistance of others is not involved. Not only must 
man have a keen sense of his own rights, but the will and the ability 
to maintain those rights with effective insistence. Resistance to in- 
justice and tyranny and low ideals is inseparable from a virile fight- 
ing quality that has given purpose and force to ennobling causes to 
nil nations. 

Though we may realize the brutality of war, though we may 
know the value of life, yet we know equally well what would be 
(he effects upon the lives and the minds of men who would lose 
their rights, who would accept denial of justice rather than hazard 
their physical safety. The progress of all the ages has come as the 
result of protests against wrongs and existing conditions and through 
assertion of rights and effective demands for justice. Our own 
freedom and republican form of government have been achieved by 
resistance to tyranny and insistence upon rights. Freedom and 
democracy dare not be synonymous with weakness. They exist only 
because there is a vision of the possibilities of human life, faith in 
lunuan nature, and the will to make these things realities even against 
tlie opposition of those who see and understand less deeply. The 
people who are willing to maintain their rights and to defend their 
freedom are worthy of those privileges. Rights carry with them 
obligation — duty. It is the duty of those who live under free insti- 
tutions at least to maintain them unimpaired. 

As the result of the European war there is hardly a citizen who 
has not in some degree modified his opinions upon preparedness 



PREPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 5 

and national defense. The belief prevails that there must be some 
policy of preparedness and national defense, although there is wide 
diversion as to what policies ought to be adopted. 

Preparedness and defense are practically the reverse and obverse 
sides of the same problem. There are two lines of approach to this 
problem — one indirect, involving consideration of the development, 
health, and conservation of the citizens, and the other direct, involv- 
ing the weapons of defense and specific plans for the use of power. 

In the past we have trusted much to the rugged physiques, muscles, 
and nerves trained and under control and ability to coordinate powers 
quickly to meet emergencies which belong to the outdoor life of a 
pioneer people. Life on the frontier developed physical strength and 
virile manhood. Mental and physical weakness could not survive in 
the dangers of that life. But the frontier has vanished. The ma- 
jority of our citizens no longer live in the open, and they show in their 
physical development the effect of the restricted life of the city. They 
have not the physical strength or endurance that would fit them with- 
out further preparation to be called into service in a citizens' army. 

Since opportunities for physical training are not freely and readily 
available to all, some definite national policy must be devised for 
physical training and physical preparedness of all citizens. Sucli a 
training could be readily given through our public school system and 
other auxiliary agencies. 

Physical training is properly a part of educational work, and there- 
fore should be under the control and direction of public agencies. 
We are constantly coming to a better appreciation of what proper 
physical development and good health mean in the life and for the 
working ability of each individual. Physical training and good 
health are just as important and just as necessary to all other interests 
of life as they are to national defense. The chief problem is that 
training of this nature should be in furtherance of broad, general use- 
fidness and ideals and not be narrowly specialized or dominated by 
the purpose of militarism. 

Physical training must fit citizens for industry, for commerce, for 
service in the work of the nation, as well as for service in defense of 
the nation. But physical training and preparedness are insufficient. 
There must be a spirit among the people that makes them loyal to 
country and willing to give themselves to its service and protection. 
That spirit can not exist unless the citizens feel that tlie nation will 
assure to all equal opportunities and equal justice. They must feel 
that they are a part of the nation, with a voice in determining its 
destinies. This spirit of loyalty depends not only upon political 
rights, but upon justice and right on the industrial field, aye, in all 
relations of life. 

National preparedness involves also power to coordinate and to\ 
utilize national forces and national resources. War as it is being 
waged to-day is not determined merely by the men on the battle field, 
but also by the mobilization of the national resources, national indus- 
tries and commerce. The real problem is the organization of the 
material forces and resources of the country, the coordination of 
these in the furtherance of a definite defensive military policy. All 
of the power and resources of the belligerent countries are concen- 
trated to sustain the armies in the field and to equip them with the 



6 PEEPAEEDNESS FOE NATIONAL DEFENSE. 

necessary weapons of war. The contest between industries, the ques- 
tion of commercial control, of superiority of economic organization, 
are fully as important as the contest between the soldiers on the 
battle field. Whatever, then, is the necessary part of the organization 
of industrial and commercial life is an important factor in national 
^preparedness. 

Our industrial and commercial development has been of a hap- 
hazard nature rather than in accord with any definite, constructive, 
statesmanlike plan. Because of the vast natural resources of our 
country and the variety of untouched opportunities, it has been pos- 
sible for us as a nation to achieve tremendous results without definite 
plans, without much wisdom, and without the use of the best judg- 
ment. Considering our opportunities and the vast wealth of our 
country, to have failed would have been much more marvelous than 
the degree of success to which we have attained. As our population 
has increased, as free lands have disappeared, as there is no longer 
the former wide range of opportunity, success in the future will be 
more directly the result of the best use of available opportunities and 
of the best coordination of existing forces. As frontier opportunities 
have disappeared, so frontier business policies will no longer suc- 
ceed. Commercial or industrial policies that aimed at immediate 
results with extravagant disregard for conservation or for economical 
utilization of materials will be replaced by better policies of devel- 
oping commerce and industry upon a basis that means constructive 
development instead of exploitation. The economic highwayman 
must disappear as did the frontier highwayman. 

Constructive development must have consideration for every factor 
concerned in production and must secure to each equal opportunities 
that will result in the best service and in the conservation of the 
future service. Such a policy will involve thorough organization of 
all the factors of production. This organization must extend to the 
human element in production in order that there may be accorded 
to the workers proper consideration of their needs and proper con- 
servation of their labor power. 

Preparedness as viewed from this standpoint is a part of the larger 
problems of national development — physical, mental, economic. It 
is a civic, an economic, as well as a military problem. National 
development can be in accord with the highest ideals only when all 
citizens have the right to voluntary association to promote their own 
welfare and to activities necessary to carry out the purpose of such 
organizations. This broad general policy includes associations of 
wage earners — trade unions. These associations of the workers must- 
be recognized by all agencies, whether private or governmental, that 
are concerned with the life and the work of the workers. 

Great Britain, in dealing with immediate problems of national 
defense, has found that the labor movement must be recognized as 
the natural and official representative of the wage earners. She has 
found that she can deal with national problems only when she con- 
siders the ideals and the demands of the chosen representatives of 
the workers. 

But the principles of human welfare can not be ignored in military 
matters or in plans for national defense just as they can not be 
ignored in industry or commerce. That infinitely valuable and 



PREPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 7 

sacred thing — human creative power — and the safeguarding of 
human rights and freedom are of fundamental importance and are 
correlated with national defense and must not be sacrificed to any 
false conception of national defense. For to what end will a nation 
be saved if the citizens are denied that which gives life value and 
purpose ? 

The labor power of workers is to them their all. The deep signifi- 
cance of the protection and conservation of their labor — their verj 
lives — is what the British Government of to-day has failed to under- 
stand. The deep significance of this declaration made a few days 
ago in England by an important labor organization has a meaning 
for us: 

Unless the Government is prepared to confiscate the wealth of the privileged 
classes for the most successful prosecution of the war, the railroad workers will 
resist to the uttermost the confiscation of men whose only wealth is their labor 
power. 

Some employers of our country and some Government officials 
have refused to recognize organizations of wage earners, but organ- 
izations of w^age earners are a necessary and an important part of the 
organization of industry and society, and any national policy that 
refuses to recognize and take into account such an important force 
must prove ineffective. 

National policies, whether political or military, must be in accord 
with broad democratic ideals that recognize all factors and value 
each according to the service that it performs. There is a human 
side to all of our national problems, whether industrial, commercial, 
political, or military. It has been the general practice of govern- 
ments to accord only to employers, the owners of capital, of the 
managerial side of commerce and industry, real participation in gov- 
ernment and in deciding upon governmental policies. According to 
this custom the wage earners belong to the class of the governed, 
never to the governing class. This policy is a reflection of condi- 
tions existing in the industrial and commercial world. However, a 
change has been coming. The wage earners, through their economic 
associations, have been making the demand that those who supply 
the creative labor powder of industry and commerce are surely as 
important to the processes of production as those who supply the 
materials necessary for production. They have, therefore, made 
demand that the human side of production shall at least be given as 
much consideration and as much importance as the material side. 
They demand that industries and commerce shall be conducted not 
only in the interests of production but with consideration for the 
welfare and the conservation of the human beings employed in pro- 
duction. They have asserted the right that every policy affecting 
industry, commerce, financial institutions, and everything that is 
involved in the organization of society in some way affects the lives 
of those concerned in the industries or occupations and the welfare 
of those who are the consumers. Therefore they demand that those 
who are concerned in the conduct of the industry or occupation must 
be given the same consideration as those who are to make profits by 
the industry. They have declared that there are principles of 
human welfare and have demanded that these must be considered in 
determining national policies. This is a democratic ideal and one 



8 PREPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 

which will promote the welfare of all of the people. Hence, it has 
an important bearing upon national preparedness, for it means that 
the great masses of the people will be better fitted physically and 
mentally to be intelligent, able protectors of the nation.. 

In addition to policies of ganeral preparedness, which are a part 
of the larger problem of national development and conservation, there 
must be some specific plan and agency for national defense. Even 
the Socialists agree upon the necessity for wars of defense and for 
agencies of national defense. When war was declared the Socialists 
of Germany, of France, and of England flocked to the national 
standard to defend the flag. There is not a national Socialist organ- 
ization in Europe that is not defending its participation in the war 
upon the plea of the necessity for national defense. The old inter- 
national idealism of human brotherhood has, at least for this Avar, 
been shot to pieces on the battle fields of Europe. They forgot their 
theories of pacifism and flew to arms to defend their homes, their 
families, and their governments. 

And the Socialists of the United States have not escaped dissen- 
sions as the result of the Avar and are noAv in a bitter wrangle upon 
the degree of military preparedness that ought to be adopted by this 
country. Some of the more violent pacifists are trjdng to forcefully 
eject from the party those who declare a policy of nonresistance 
as incompatible with the conditions that confront our Nation. Other 
Socialists, such as Charles Edward Eussell, renounce their old 
dreams and acknoAvledge that human nature makes it necessary for 
us to be ready for national defense. Prominent members of the 
Socialist Party — Joshua Wanhope and W. J. Ghent — declare that 
socialism is a revolutionary movement and hence Socialists can not 
renounce the use of force. Both declare that the Socialist parties 
of the world haA^e never taken the position of advocating Tolstoian 
nonresistance. Morris Hillquit has admitted that preparedness seems 
doomed to become the issue in the national convention and a plank 
in the Socialist Party platform. Henry L. Slobodin has said : 

The Socialists had many occasions during the last 50 years to deliberate upon 
this problem and declare the Socialist attitude on military preparedness. And 
not once did the Socialist declare against preparedness. On every occasion they 
declared that the Socialists were, in their own way, in favor of military pre- 
paredness. The Socialists always were against standing armies and huge mili- 
tary establishments. But they always were and now stand committed in favor 
of universal military training and a citizens' army. 

Recent dispatches from Berlin say that the executive committee of 
the Socialist Party has by a vote of 28 to 11 adopted a resolution 
censuring 20 Socialist members of the Beichstag for attempting to 
tliAvart the party's policy by declining to vote in favor of the war 
credits. 

Quite in contrast to this vacillation is the consistent attitude of 
the American Federation of Labor. The following declaration, made 
years ago, has stood the tests of the experiences of years. It em- 
bodies the wisdom labor has gained in the struggle of life and Avork. 

A man who is a wage earner and honorably working at his trade or calling to 
siipport himself and those dependent upon him has not only the right to become 
a citizen soldier, but that right must be unquestioned. 

The militia, 1. e., the citizen soldiery of the several States in our country, 
supplies what otherwise might take its place — a large standing army. 



PEEPAKEDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 9 

The difference between the citizen soldiery of the United States and the large 
standing armies of many European countries is the difference between a republic 
and monarchy — it is the difference between the conceptions of liberty and of 
tyranny. 

AVhile organized labor stands against the arbitrament of international or 
internal disputes by force of arms, yet we must realize we have not yet reached 
the millennium ; that in the age in which we live we have not the choice between 
armed force and absolute disarmament, but the alternative of a large standing 
army and a small one supplemented by a volunteer citizen soldiery — the militia 
of our several States. 

The 1915 (San Francisco) convention of the American Federation 
of Labor reafRrmed this position by refusing to adopt resolutions 
which called upon all workers to desist from affiliating with any 
branch of the military forces. 

A great majority of our Nation are agreed upon the necessity for 
adopting a definite policy for necessary national defense. Of course, 
there is not unity upon any one policy. Whatever plan may be 
adopted, the organized-labor movement of America, which is di- 
rectly representative of millions of organized wage earners and 
indirectly representative of millions more of unorganized workers, 
demands that certain fundamental principles must be regarded. 

All policies and plans for national defense must be determined by 
representatives of all of the people. The organized-labor movement, 
which is the only means for expressing the will and the desires of the 
great masses of our citizenship, asserts its right to representation 
in all committees, commissions, or bodies that decide upon military 
defense. The working people of all nations are always those most 
vitally affected by military service in time of peace or war. Upon 
them falls the burden of the fighting in the ranks and they have ever 
been ex])ected to act as shock absorbers for the evil consequences of 
war. They have been the chief sufferers from evils of militarism 
wherever that malicious system has fastened itself upon a nation. 
Since they have been the victims of the hurtful policies of military 
defense, they will be the most interested in safeguarding our own 
national plans from dangers and from evils of militarism that have 
been disclosed by the experiences of other countries. 

Preparedness is something very different from militarism or 
navalism. Both leave an indelible impression upon the nation, one 
for freedom and the other for repression. Militarism and navalism 
are a perversion of preparedness — instead of serving the interests 
of the people, the people are ammunition for these machines. They 
are destructive to freedom and democracy. 

An understanding of human nature and of conditions is convinc- 
ing proof that every nation must have some means of self-defense. 
The agencies and policies for this purpose must be carefully chosen. 

The labor movement has always been a leader in the cause of 
democracy. The labor movement derriands democracy in all things, 
including military organizations and institutions of the country. It 
holds that policies and methods of self-defense are best safeguarded 
when there is equal opportunity for all to become members of what- 
ever organizations and institutions, whether military or otherwise, 
exist throughout the country. Not only must entrajice to all institu- 
tions be freely and equally accorded to all but the military must be 
democratically organized, democratically officered, and under the 
control of heads who are responsible to the citizens of the land. 



10 PEEPAEEDNESS FOE NATIONAL DEFENSE. 

In addition to the Regular Army there must be a citizenship 
physically fit, ready and able to serve. Equal opportunity for mili- 
tary training must be provided for the citizenship generally — oppor- 
tunity attended by provisions that make it equal m reality and truly 
democratic. 

All agree that physical training with knowledge and the ability to 
bear and use arms will have a wholesome ejffect upon the health, 
strength, and preparedness of the people of the United States. If 
that training is given through voluntary institutions, organized upon 
a democratic basis, it will have a wholesome effect upon the civic 
life of the nation also. 

Democratic spirit is essential. Any plan that recognizes profes- 
sions or other distinctions will tend toward military castes, a condi- 
tion incompatible with the fredom, the spirit, and the genius of our 
Republic. 

Absolute democracy in voluntary service for national defense will 
have an effect upon all other relations of life. It will make for 
better understanding. It will bind all together in unselfish service 
and broaden and deepen that which constitutes the common life of 
our nation. Men can not resist the appeal of human nature. 

The labor movement is militant. The workers understand the 
necessity for power and its uses. They fully appreciate the important 
function that power exercises in the affairs of the world. Power 
does not have to be used in order to be potential. The very existence 
of power and ability to use that power constitutes a defense against 
unreasonable and unwarranted attack. Ability and readiness for 
self-defense constitute a potential instrumentality against unneces- 
sary and useless wars, or the denial of rights and justice. 

The labor movement has never advocated the abolition of agencies 
for the enforcement of right and justice, or for the abolition of the 
military arm of government, but it does demand that these shall 
be so organized as to prevent their misuse and abuse as a means of 
tyranny against the workers, and to prevent the development of 
pernicious results that have grown out of militarism, the building 
up of a separate military caste and the subversion of civic life to 
military government and military standards. When military insti- 
tutions and military service are separated from the general life of 
the people they become subversive to the ideals of civic life, they 
become dangerous to the best development and the best interests of 
the nation. 

The rights and privileges of citizenship impose a duty upon all 
who enjoy them. That duty involves service to the Nation in all 
relations of the common life, including its defense against attack 
and the maintenance of national institutions and ideals. 

There are no citizens of our country who are more truly patriotic 
than the organized wage earners — or all of the wage earners — and 
we have done our share in the civic life of the Nation as well as in 
the Nation's wars. We have done our share to protect the Nation 
against insidious attacks from within that were directed at the very 
heart of our national life and would have inevitably involved us in 
foreign complications. The Avage earners stood unfalteringly for 
ideals of honor, freedom, and loyalty. Their wisdom and their 
patriotism served our country in a time of great need. No one can 



PREPAREDNESS FOR Na.-.^^^L DEFENSE. 11 

question that the wage earners of the Unit*.? States are patriotic in 
the truest sense. No one can question their wrjii^aness to fio'ht for 
the cause of liberty, freedom, and justice. No on-rcan question tlie 
value of the ideals that direct the labor movement.. 

The labor movement takes the position that plans ni.'] Dolicies for 
national defense and preparedness must be in accord with an echicuted 
conscience which can discern values, and is able and alert to dis- 
tinguish the vital from the less important, and willing to insist upon 
the ideals and standards of justice, equality, and freedom. 

Every observer knows that there is no peace — all of life is a strug- 
gle, physical and mental. Progress results only from the domina- 
tion of the forces making for freedom and opportunity over the 
forces of repression. 

I may summarize the situation into these few concrete suggestions : 

1. The recognition of and cooperation with the organized-labor 
movement in all fields of activity — industrial, commercial, political, 
social, moral defense. 

2. Establishment and extension of the citizen soldiery, democrati- 
cally organized, officered, administered, and controlled. 

3. Prohibition of the use of the militia for strike duty. 

4. Education of wage earners upon an equalit}^ with all other 
citizens in manual training, physical and mental development, in or- 
ganizing, officering, administering, and leading in the operations of 
a military character for the defense of our country. 

5. Industrial education and vocational training as part of the ed- 
ucational sj^stem of the States, with financial aid of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

6. Education of the young, physical and mental, including the art 
and the duty of defense, the abilitj^ to bear arms, the inculcation of 
the ideals of democracy, civic rights, and duties and obligations. 

7. Inculcate in all our people a social conscience for a better con- 
cept of industrial justice. 

The thoughts and suggestions I have submitted should commend 
themselves to the serious and favorable consideration and action of 
all of our people — all their groups and associations. Put into actual 
operation they will make not only for immediate effective pre- 
paredness for defense, but will prove the potential means for per- 
manent preparedness and defense, while at the same time make all 
our people more efficient in their every endeavor, and in addition 
safeguard the spirit of justice, freedom, democracy, and humanity. 



.+.» 



American Federation of Labor, 

Washington, D. C, January 19, 1916. 
Mr. Henry L. West, 

Executive Secretary, the National Security League, 

Neiv Willard Hotel, Washington, D. C. 

Dear Sir: Since it was impossible for me to be present at this 
meeting of the National Security League, in accord with your request, 
I am writing you in regard to certain fundamental principles that 
ought to be presented in connection with the subject before your 
congress. 

In considering preparedness and national defense, it is of para- 
mount importance to have in mind that these concern the citizens of 
the whole Nation, and therefore all have a right to a voice in the 
determination of plans and policies that shall be adopted to secure 
these purposes. Voice in determining plans and policies means not 
only the right to pass upon them after they have been formulated 
but a right to representation in those bodies which shall deliberate 
upon and formulate plans. 

No policy can be truly effective that is not representative of the 
thought and desires of the people generally. It is in keeping with the 
spirit of a free people that the wage earners who constitute the great 
majority of our citizens shall be represented fully in the determina- 
tion of matters that vitally affect their welfare. The wage earners as 
well as our citizens generally agree that under present conditions 
every nation must have some definite policy of national preparedness 
and some means for national defense. It is true that many efforts 
to attain these purposes have been attended by undesirable develop- 
ments and conditions. In some countries national preparedness and 
defense have been perverted into militarism and navalism and have 
foisted upon those countries customs, conditions, influences that are 
baneful. But these results are due to the fact that policies for 
national defense and preparedness were not safeguarded by infusing 
into every detail the spirit and the method of democracy. These ex- 
periences must have a significance and a lesson for us, in contrast 
with the experiences in the democratic systems which have been 
adopted in Australia and Switzerland. The fundamental principles 
of these systems could be adapted to meet our needs and conditions. 

National defense and preparedness are but one phase of national 
life. Provisions for this purpose must be a part of the whole plan 
for national development. In other words, military training and 
military institutions must be a part of the life of the people rather 
than of a nature to alienate citizens from the spirit, the ideals, and the 
purposes of civic life. A great danger comes from isolating the 
military, from making military ideals separate and often in conflict 
with those of the masses of the people. The military should not 
exist as something apart, but for the service of the whole Nation. The 

13 



14 PREPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 

basis and the prerequisite for all military preparedness and national 
defense is a citizenship physically strong, well developed, and fit 
This essential can best be secured by making physical training a part 
of the work to be done at our public schools. Such training will not 
only prepare boys for service in the defense of the Nation but wall 
make them efficient in all relations of life. It will afford to all equal 
opportunities for better health and preparedness to serve the country. 
The naval and military institutions of our country which give a 
special training to those who have a particular fitness and desire to 
follow military or naval professions ought also to be open to all who 
possess the required qualifications. Such a provision would enable 
men from all walks of life to enter the Army and the Navy — a condi- 
tion which in itself w^ould be in accord with the spirit of democracy. 

Whenever the spirit of democracy is absent, there the accom- 
panying evil of militarism, military castes, fasten deadly clutches 
upon freedom and civic opportunity, and obversely where the spirit 
of democracy obtains it tends to the abolition of military castes and 
the inherent vicious dangers of militarism. 

In addition to those who enter the Kegular Army and the Navy as 
a profession there must be reserves that can be called into the serv- 
ice of the country quickly to meet an emergency. It is necessary, 
therefore, that there should be opportunities afforded to the masses 
of the citizens for military training. However, all military training 
must be safeguarded to protect democratic ideals and civic institu- 
tions. Not only must there be equal opportunity for all citizens to 
enter military training organizations and camps; but that oppor- 
tunity must be attended by such provisions as to rnake it an equal 
opportunity for both the poor and the rich. A fair compensation 
for service in military training camps must be paid as a substitute 
for wages lost. In these citizen organizations for military training 
there must be no recognition of distinctions, professions, or for any 
advantage or position that may be held by any citizen or group of 
citizens. 

In order to insure naval preparedness and to maintain reserves 
for that service it is imperative that high standards of manhood and 
efficiency may be established in the Navy, the merchant marine, and 
for transport service. 

When service in the Army and Navy and in training schools and 
training camps and reserve organizations is open to all ; when those 
institutions are organized upon a democratic basis, democratically 
officered and administered; when there is equal opportunity for all 
for service in all positions, from the highest officer to the lowest in 
the ranks; and when the commander in chief of both Army and 
Navy and all military organizations within the country is an elected 
person directly responsible to the people, it seems to me that the 
greatest possible precaution has been taken to secure national defense 
and national preparedness without doing violence to the spirit of 
democracy and to our Republic. With these safeguards the dangers 
of developing militarism will have been reduced to the smallest 
possibility. 

While the organized-labor movement deprecates war and is willing 
to do all within its power to prevent war, yet our experience with the 
practical affairs of life have taught us "that we can secure justice 



PREPAREDNESS FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE. 15 

and recognition of rights only when Ave are prepared to defend and 
protect our ideals of justice. 

Those who understand the present social and industrial conditions 
and the forces that determine relations between nations and who 
understand human nature realize that no nation can afford to dis- 
arm at the present time or to be without means of national defense. 
The great problem then is to adopt the best policies and the best 
means to see to it that the methods by which we insure additional 
defense are in harmony with democratic ideals and are of a nature 
to promote the best interests and the welfare of our citizens in all 
relations of national life. 
Yours, very truly, 

Samuel Gompers, 
President American Federation of Labor. 

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